New Delhi:
India's biggest internal security threat is now taking a menacing form across the red corridor.
On Monday, the Maoists began a two-day bandh across Bihar and Jharkhand and unleashed unrelenting violence and arson.
The deputy director and assistant manager of a private coal mine were shot dead in Jharkhand while on a morning walk at about 5:30 am. The police insist this was not a Naxal attack, but sources in the local administration say the Naxals are responsible - and that the two paid the price for refusing to give protection money. Coalmines in the area have been paying 10 per cent of their turnover as protection money to the Naxals.
Naxals blew up railway tracks in Bokaro between Jarangdih and Bokaro Thermal station in Jharkhand. The Ranchi-Delhi railway line was affected. They also damaged a bridge.
In Giridih, about 12 armed Maoists set fire to three trucks at around 1 am and cut down trees to block traffic on the Dumri-Giridih road. In neighbouring Bihar's Aurangabad, they set a mobile phone tower on fire.
In Delhi, West Bengal chief minister Buddadeb Bhattacharjee met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking the Centre to help defeat the Naxals. "We need the central forces to continue to stay in the state and we will need more time," Bhattacharjee said to Manmohan Singh.
Bhattacharjee, in particular, asked that central para-military forces in troubled Lalgarh remain to help provide stability.
Lalgarh, in the corner of West Midnapore bordering Jharkhand, is 250 km south west of Kolkata. In June, a huge operation of state and police forces helped reclaim Lalgarh from the Maoists, who had declared it a liberalized zone, one they were administrating.
Bhattacharjee said he had suggested that anti-Naxal operations begin soon in the areas bordering Jharkhand. And that these should be handled jointly by the state police and central security forces.
In Maharashtra, where polling for the Assembly elections will be held on Tuesday, the government is concerned about security in Naxal-dominated Gadchiroli district, where 16 police personnel were killed by Naxals last week.
A N Roy, DGP (Elections), Maharashtra, said: "We have utmost concern for Naxal affected areas. This time there has been a call for boycott. They are threatening to disrupt the polling process and we are making security arrangements for this. We have requested for a large amount of paramilitary forces."
Once the elections are over, more forces are expected to be deployed for an all-out offensive against the Maoists across the red corridor stretching from Maharashtra to West Bengal and from Bihar to Andhra Pradesh.
On Monday, the Maoists began a two-day bandh across Bihar and Jharkhand and unleashed unrelenting violence and arson.
The deputy director and assistant manager of a private coal mine were shot dead in Jharkhand while on a morning walk at about 5:30 am. The police insist this was not a Naxal attack, but sources in the local administration say the Naxals are responsible - and that the two paid the price for refusing to give protection money. Coalmines in the area have been paying 10 per cent of their turnover as protection money to the Naxals.
Naxals blew up railway tracks in Bokaro between Jarangdih and Bokaro Thermal station in Jharkhand. The Ranchi-Delhi railway line was affected. They also damaged a bridge.
In Giridih, about 12 armed Maoists set fire to three trucks at around 1 am and cut down trees to block traffic on the Dumri-Giridih road. In neighbouring Bihar's Aurangabad, they set a mobile phone tower on fire.
In Delhi, West Bengal chief minister Buddadeb Bhattacharjee met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking the Centre to help defeat the Naxals. "We need the central forces to continue to stay in the state and we will need more time," Bhattacharjee said to Manmohan Singh.
Bhattacharjee, in particular, asked that central para-military forces in troubled Lalgarh remain to help provide stability.
Lalgarh, in the corner of West Midnapore bordering Jharkhand, is 250 km south west of Kolkata. In June, a huge operation of state and police forces helped reclaim Lalgarh from the Maoists, who had declared it a liberalized zone, one they were administrating.
Bhattacharjee said he had suggested that anti-Naxal operations begin soon in the areas bordering Jharkhand. And that these should be handled jointly by the state police and central security forces.
In Maharashtra, where polling for the Assembly elections will be held on Tuesday, the government is concerned about security in Naxal-dominated Gadchiroli district, where 16 police personnel were killed by Naxals last week.
A N Roy, DGP (Elections), Maharashtra, said: "We have utmost concern for Naxal affected areas. This time there has been a call for boycott. They are threatening to disrupt the polling process and we are making security arrangements for this. We have requested for a large amount of paramilitary forces."
Once the elections are over, more forces are expected to be deployed for an all-out offensive against the Maoists across the red corridor stretching from Maharashtra to West Bengal and from Bihar to Andhra Pradesh.
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